* Away, for your relief! and we will live *To see their day, and them our fortune give: * Away, my lord, away! in the same Chronicle, EDWARD IV. fol. xxii: « [Exeunt. to bee pro vided a kynge, for to extinguish both the faccions and partes [i. e. parties] of Kyng Henry the VI. and of Kyng Edward the fourth." Again, in Coriolanus : $6 if I cannot persuade thee, "Rather to show a noble grace to both parts, "Than seek the end of one,❞— In Plutarch the corresponding passage runs thus: "For if I cannot persuade thee rather to do good unto both parties," &c. MALONE. A hundred instances might be brought in proof that part and party were synonymously used. But that is not the present question. Mr. Tyrwhitt's ear (like every other accustomed to harmony of versification) must naturally have been shocked by the leonine gingle, of hearts and parts, which is not found in any one of the passages produced by Mr. Malone in defence of the present reading. STEEVENS. SCENE III. Fields near Saint Albans. . ,, Alarum: Retreat. Flourish; then enter YORK, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, WARWICK, and Soldiers, with Drum and Colours. I YORK. Of Salisbury, who can report of him; * That winter lion, who, in rage, forgets * Aged contusions and all brush of time;2 And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,3 * J Of Salisbury, &c.] The corresponding speeches to this and the following, are these, in the original play: 2 "York. How now, boys! fortunate this fight hath been, "I hope to us and ours, for England's good, "And our great honour, that so long we lost, "Whilst faint-heart Henry did usurp our rights. "But did you see old Salisbury, since we "With bloody minds did buckle with the foe? "I would not for the loss of this right hand "That aught but well betide that good old man. "Rich. My lord, I saw him in the thickest throng, Charging his launce with his old weary arms; "And thrice I saw him beaten from his horse, "And thrice this hand did set him up again; "And still he fought with courage 'gainst his foes; "The boldest-spirited man that e'er mine eyes beheld." MALONE. brush of time;] Read bruise of time. WARBURTon. The brush of time, is the gradual detrition of time. The old reading I suppose to be the true one. So, in Timon : 66 one winter's brush-." STEEVENS. - gallant in the brow of youth,] The brow of youth is an expression not very easily explained. "I read the blow of youth; the blossom, the spring. JOHNSON. * Repairs him with occasion? this happy day • RICH. My noble father, 'Three times to-day I holp him to his horse, Three times bestrid him, thrice I led him off, • Persuaded him from any further act: 'But still, where danger was, still there I met him; * And like rich hangings in a homely house, * So was his will in his old feeble body. *But, noble as he is, look where he comes. Enter SALISBURY. SAL. Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought to-day;5 The brow of youth is the height of youth, as the brow of a hill is its summit. So, in Othello: 66 the head and front of my offending." Again, in King John: "Why here walk I in the black brow of night." STEEVENS. Three times bestrid him,] That is, Three times I saw him fallen, and, striding over him, defended him till he recovered. JOHNSON. See Vol. XI. p. 405, n. 9. Of this act of friendship, which Shakspeare has frequently noticed in other places, no mention is made in the old play, as the reader may find on the opposite page; and its introduction here is one of the numerous minute circumstances, which when united form almost a decisive proof that the piece before us was constructed on foundations laid by a preceding writer. MALONE. 5 Well hast thou fought &c.] The variation between this speech and that in the original play deserves to be noticed : "Sal. Well hast thou fought this day, thou valiant duke; "And thou brave bud of York's increasing house, By the mass, so did we all.-I thank you, Rich ard: 'God knows, how long it is I have to live; And it hath pleas'd him, that three times to-day "You have defended me from imminent death.*Well, lords, we have not got that which we have :6 * "Tis not enough our foes are this time fled, Being opposites of such repairing nature." YORK. I know, our safety is to follow them; For, as I hear, the king is fled to London, To call a present court of parliament. 8 "The small remainder of my weary life, MALONE. 6 Well, lords, we have not got that which we have:] i. e. we have not secured, we are not sure of retaining, that which we have acquired. In our author's Rape of Lucrece, a poem very nearly contemporary with the present piece, we meet with a similar expression: "That oft they have not that which they possess." MALONE. Being opposites of such repairing nature.] Being enemies that are likely so soon to rally and recover themselves from this defeat. See Vol. V. p. 331, n. 7. To repair, in our author's language, is, to renovate. So, in Cymbeline: "O, disloyal thing! "That should'st repair my youth Again, in All's well that ends well: 66 It much repairs me, "To talk of your good father." MALONE. • To call a present court of parliament.] The King and Queen left the stage only just as York entered, and have not said a word about calling a parliament. Where then could York hear this? -The fact is, as we have seen, that in the old play the King does say, " he will call a parliament," but our author has omitted Let us pursue him, ere the writs go forth :• What says lord Warwick? shall we after them? WAR. After them! nay, before them, if we can. Now by my faith,' lords, 'twas a glorious day: Sound, drums and trumpets ;-and to London all: the lines. [Exeunt. He has, therefore, here, as in some other places, fallen into an impropriety, by sometimes following and at others deserting his original. MALONE. hand. 9 Now by my faith,] The first folio reads-Now by my This undoubtedly was one of the many alterations made by the editors of that copy, to avoid the penalty of the Stat. 3 Jac. I. c. 21. See p. 366, n. 9. The true reading I have restored from the old play. MALONE. END OF VOL. XIII. Printed by S. Hamilton, Weybridge. |